What is Madness?

Madness can be divided.Madness can be divided and multiplied.The best way to learn about madness is to distance oneselffrom it.Madness is politics.Dada is against politics because it is against madness.Politics stand at the soft core of our time.May that core soon soften further and may it leave our timefree space for being free.

Kurt Schwitters. 1924 - 1925

Further information to follow

A brief history of Mad Studies in relation to Torronto, Lothian and Newcastle and Durham

"David Reville is a part-time adjunct associate professor at Ryerson University,Torronto, Canada. David self-identifies as a psychiatric survivor (survivor of the psychiatric system) and mad person for, and has done so in a career including periods as a local and provincial elected politician and special advisor to the premier of Canada when his party was in power. David describes how the Mad Studies course came together.

... you will hear, David says Mad People’s History is a collection of stories; how he uses an iconic painting to illustrate the difference between the history of psychiatry and mad people’s history (It’s Blanche – David sees the ‘hysterical’ woman being talked about by the psychiatrist as Charcot’s prop. “It’s Blanche we don’t get to hear about” and says “I want to change that”. You could say David is an advocate for hearing the stories of mad people.

He says the other reason he is interested in the history of madness is because he has a mad history of his own: he brings his story into the online classroom. His personal mad history intersects mad people’s history. You could say David’s is history from a personal standpoint.

When he was compulsorily detained as a young man in law school, David had time to think – to form an analysis – Madness is different if you’re a woman, gay, working class, Mohawk. History and personal experience of madness are structured by intersections of class, race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation.

I hear the intersection of David as survivor and mad person, with David the politician, when he tells how he and others, politicized by their experiences in mental hospitals decided to work together for change. Those identities tell us what’s at stake for the people telling the stories: survival.

In the second video David leads us through his territory, streets of Toronto, survivor-run organizations, and ask these survivor leaders what they call themselves and why. The interviews with these people . The focus is on the politics of identity assertion, negotiation, contestation.

We see slogans on the video walls: “too much sanity is madness”; “we hold this truth that all humans are created different”. And we hear Lucy say self-labelling – as a lunatic – for her is about “owning the word and owning the history of the word.”

Owning the word and owning the history of the word. Lucy is doing personal historical work, from – and for – her standpoint. As mental nurse, academic involved in mental health and policy community engagement, I find the videos, and David’s course, challenge me to think, and feel, differently about the words I use and the words I own, and my own histories, mad elements and all".

Further down the page, Kirsten Maclean discusses Oor Mad History, a community history project about the history of activism by mental health service users in Lothian, Scotland and also the links they have forged with Ryerson University.

"Kirsten ... is a social historian and has been working on Oor Mad History a community history project about the history of activism by mental health service users in Lothian. Service user led and supported by NHS Lothian, we look at ways of using community history and the arts to strengthen the service user voice and movement today and in the future"."We also aim to challenge assumptions about people who use mental health services. We interviewed over 70 activists and supporters of the movement and gathered material from Lothian and beyond to create a paper based and oral history archive . Recently we have begun a community development project with the School of Disability Studies at Ryerson University Toronto which offer a course":Kirsten MacLean talks about Oor Mad History: http://www.ragged-online.com/?p=992

The there was Northumbria University (Newcastle) ...

Introduction {from the Northumbria University 2014-15 prospectus]

Mad Studies is a new academic discipline which has emerged from the diverse fields of critical disability studies, anti-psychiatry, the psychiatric survivor movement, critical psychiatry, activism and key social theorists. Recently a text by Brenda LaFrancois et al, Mad Matters: a critical reader in Canadian Mad Studies has given the area of study both focus and momentum. We are therefore pleased to introduce this Mad Studies module as the first in the UK.

The module invites students to examine the concept of ‘Madness’ with a consideration of ‘mental health’, ‘distress’, ‘well-being’ and ‘recovery’ through the perspectives of mental health service users/psychiatric survivors. The psychiatric survivors’ movement rejects biological and genetic explanations of madness, in turn they celebrate their difference and challenge the legal constraints placed upon them. This is a political alignment with more ‘holistic’ mental health movements in the UK and internationally. The concept of ‘Sainism’ and its comparison to ‘Disabilism’ will be explored.

This module will introduce students to the principle theorists; Foucault, Laing, Szasz and Sedgwick. In addition the contested importance of ‘recovery’ in current mental health provision will be explored along with critical challenges to diagnosis, treatment and the potential for stigma and discrimination. Recovery within Mad Studies does not mean the removal of symptoms or compliance with medication but the affirming process of discovering (or rediscovering) goals through self-management.

The module will also take a historical perspective to the field of Madness including topics of incarceration, therapy and sub culture. The intersectionality of madness with gender, ethnicity, class and sexual orientation with be explored providing a fuller understanding of how these interact and influence personal narratives of Madness.

In summary this module aims to equip students with a cutting edge critical appreciation of the meaning of Madness within contemporary society and how it is constructed from different perspectives, and in doing so how both power and stigma are created and exercised.

Lectures, seminars, group and individual study will provide the basis of teaching and learning. Assessment and feedback will be both formative and substantive and will be achieved through seminar discussions, debate, an online discussion board and a 3000 word written essay.

Learning and teaching strategies are varied and designed to facilitate students’ participation in the learning process. Students will experience a range of learning and teaching strategies including lectures, seminars, independent study, collaborative group work and formative and summative assessments. It is key that a significant number of the sessions are designed and delivered by mental health service users/survivors themselves.

Such a range of teaching and learning strategies will inevitably lead into some personal reflections, which can provide an important source of learning. There will be a rich diversity of experiences amongst students and staff and reflecting on these will be helpful in developing critical awareness of the effect of cultural, personal and social trends and attitudes toward Madness.

Relating theory to your own experiences can provide a rich learning experience, but the module team wishes to acknowledge that this may not always feel comfortable. In relation to the directed learning and small group work tasks we request that you:

Only disclose personal information that you want to share.

Don’t feel under pressure to say more than you want.

Respect confidentiality in relation to other members of the group.

Teaching and learning in this module will include an eclectic mix of strategies to ensure students have a wide variety of experience. A combination of lectures and seminar methodologies will provide theoretical and historical material from which to build discussion and debate. Opportunities to share and explore ideas in more applied contexts will come from the co-delivery and consultation with mental health/service user survivors.

Blogs will be used as a regular strategy in exploring issues raised either through class based discussion, media or core resources.

Outline Syllabus

The syllabus is designed to outline and problematise the historical, medical and social roots of biological determinism which pervades concepts of Madness, mental wellbeing, stigma and distress. This module will explore the following topics:

The terminology of Madness and mental well-being.

The historical legacy of the treatment of people with mental health issues.

The impact of mental health policy on service users/survivors.

The medical, social and political perspectives of Madness.

Engagement with service user and survivor narratives of Madness.

Comparisons and analysis different cultural identities associated with Madness.

Aims of the Module To draw upon mental health service user/survivor perspectives to critically analyze historic and contemporary approaches to the concepts of Madness, distress and mental wellbeing.

Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

Critically reflect on the terminology referred to around Madness and mental well-being.

Appreciate the historical legacy of the treatment of people with mental health issues.

Appraise the impact of mental health policy on service users/survivors.

Contrast what constitutes the different perspectives of mental health in terms of medical and social constructions.

Be able to draw upon service user and survivor narratives of Madness.

Compare and analysis different cultural identities associated with Madness.